Which is better, wooden or plastic cutting boards?  It turns out, there is no easy answer.  Consumers may choose either wood or a nonporous surface such as plastic, marble, or glass – any of these materials can work.  What’s important is how you handle your cutting board!  The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline has some special tips. Avoid cross contamination.  This […]

It’s no fun to wake up with a sore throat or blocked sinuses.  Maybe you head to the doctor, and maybe you don’t.  Knowing whether the illness is caused by a bacterium or a virus can help you understand possible treatment options. A bacterium — more commonly seen written in its plural form, bacteria – is a microscopic, single-celled […]

The Partnership for Food Safety Education lists four basic steps to help prevent foodborne illness: Clean, Cook, Chill and Separate.  These food safety steps are important because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that foodborne microorganisms are responsible for 48 million illnesses, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths in the United States every year! Not only can you get sick […]

Research to be published in the September 2020 issue of Food Control confirms that consumers are wasting food due to confusion over food product dating.  An online survey of 1042 U.S. adults evaluated consumers’ use and knowledge of food label dates, and consumers’ habits related to disposing of food that would likely still be safe for consumption. The age […]